Big Idea:
The CCSS is encouraging us to read and respond to nonfiction text. We will act out the book and write what we can do with our bodies.

My lesson today will include a class discussion about our body parts and the wonderful things we can do with them. It is important that my students understand the different genres of books so they know which genre they need for each assignment. Today's lesson is a nonfiction. I love a book with real pictures. Real pictures help relay the idea or concept to my ELL students. We will end our lesson by writing an informative paper about what we like to do with our body.

I begin my lesson with my class seated on the carpet for whole group reading.

"Oh my goodness. I am so glad to be back in class. Do you remember that I was absent last week? Who remembers where I went? I did go hiking. I went with my family hiking down the Grand Canyon. My legs are sore and I have blisters on my feet. Even though it was a difficult hike, I had fun. I had to do many things with my body on that hike. My feet had to walk, jump, hop and slide. I also had to use my hands to grab big boulders and pull myself up to climb. My feet walked in the river, just for a second because the water was too cold. I had to use my back to carry my heavy backpack. I used my eyes to see all the beautiful things. I used my ears to hear the river rushing by us. I used my nose to smell the delicious breakfast every morning. I use my mouth to taste the delicious water I had to drink. I just told you all about my hike and how my body parts worked on that hike. How many of you have been hiking?"

We take a few minutes to discuss hiking.

"Did your feet walk or run? Yes, I do believe your feet ran. Mine are old and can only walk. Did you have to climb over big rocks? Oh, you jumped off the big rocks. Wow, you all have strong bodies. I want to read about our bodies and all the wonderful things we can do with them."

"This is the book I am going to read to you the name of it is The Body Book. When you look at the front cover what do see different about this book? When I look at the front cover, I can see that it is not a drawing or a painting. Who knows what this is? Yes it is a picture. Let's get into our partners. Go knee to knee and eye to eye using whisper voices. Purple row you partner with blue row and green row partners with orange row. Turn to your partner and tell your partner what the girl is doing."

I walk around and lean in to hear the conversations. I want to make sure all my students are on task and are talking about the book.

"I heard the answer. Great job, give a high five to your partner and look at me. Look at these pictures and tell me what is different about this book compared to the stories we usually read. Those stories are called fiction, because they are not real stories, they are make believe. This book is called nonfiction because everything in it is real. The pictures show us that they are real. A nonfiction book teaches us about something. This book is going to teach us about our ___? Bodies."

"As I read the book you will see that each page tells us and shows us things our body can do. I wonder if you already know some things your body can do. Let's read the story."

As I read each page I ask a row at a time to stand up and demonstrate the action being done. They love to perform and move.

"Now that we have read the story let's make bubble map and brainstorm all the things our bodies can do. I will use my name sticks to call on my friends that are sitting criss cross applesauce. When I say your name, you can tell me what your body likes to do."

I write down all the answers given to me. We echo read all the words in the bubbles.

"Wow, our bodies can really do a lot of wonderful things."

I like to use thinking maps. The bubble map is for organizing adjectives. I love to teach my students how to use the thinking maps so they can organize their thoughts and ideas for writing.

Resources (1)

Resources

"We are now going to write about what our bodies can do. I want you to all look at the circle map and decide what you can do. You will write a sentence and draw a picture or YOU doing something. I will model the writing process on the document camera. I will take this paper and write my sentence on the bottom. We will be using the sentence frame; I can _____. So, I am going to write; I can dance. Because I wrote; I can dance, what should my picture have in it? It should have me dancing. That's right. You all know how to write the words I and can, so I will turn of the camera and you can sound out your words by yourself. Remember to write the letters of the sounds you say. I will come around to help you with that part."

"Would my class Paper passers hand out the writing paper? Girls, tip toe to get your pencil boxes and sit down at your tables. Boys, tip toe to get your pencil boxes and sit down at your tables."

I have to dismiss my students in small groups so that I maintain order in the room. I walk around and help sound out words.

When my students are finished writing I have them sit on the carpet to read library books.

We gather on the carpet when all my students are finished writing sentences and drawing pictures. I call my students up to the front of the class by rows or small groups. I found that grouping them for their oral presentations made them feel more secure and willing to read their sentences. The reading process was also faster. Each student is given the opportunity to read their papers. We applaud and cheer after each reading.

Resources

I like to end my lesson or the day with a video that supports or reviews my lesson topic. This lesson was great for my ELL students to learn the English vocabulary for the body parts as well as action words/ verbs that are associated with them. I sing the Hokey Pokey with my class. I do the normal body parts but each day after this lesson I add more body parts to our dance. I do the hips, elbow, knees, back side and the tongue. They laugh while they are learning. Here is a fun video of Hokey Pokey.